April 2012

Los Angeles quartet Aeges make the kind of contemplative metal that brings double-meaning to the word “heavy.” The band formed in mid-2011, and combines thick riffs, thundering drums, and melody — elements that come to a head on their debut album, The Bridge.

Though it’s not out officially for another week, The Bridge is available to hear now, exclusively on Rdio. Listen to the album below and share it with your favorite metalhead thinker.

Fans of rock outfit O.A.R., get excited — Rdio has three posters signed by all five members to give away.

To win one, subscribe to O.A.R.’s playlist, King with Commentary between now and 1:30 PM PDT on April 13, 2012 — we'll randomly select three lucky winners. The playlist features the music of their latest album, King, plus track-by-track commentary notes from the band about the songwriting and recording.

Here's what happened this week on Rdio. Don't miss a thing — like Rdio on Facebook, subscribe to the Rdio blog feed, and follow @Rdio on Twitter and on Rdio. Or drop by every Friday for our weekly blog round-up.

Polyvinyl Records actually began as Polyvinyl Press, the fanzine project founded in 1994 by Matt Lunsford and Darcie Knight. Reporting on the local Champaign-Urbana scene in Illinois, the two quickly got to know bands in the area, and by 1995, they’d released a seven-inch with the July issue of their fanzine — Polyvinyl Records was born.

Over the next decade and a half, the label thrived because of Lunsford and Knight’s dedication to the local scene, and their fair treatment of the artists on the Polyvinyl roster. They first found major success when one of their original signees, Braid, released the seminal Frame and Canvas. They found consistent success after from the label’s stacked roster of boundary-pushing acts, among them of Montreal, Deerhoof, Architecture in Helsinki, Xiu Xiu, Japandroids, and Joan of Arc.

We’re back with more Tip & Tricks for New Rdio — today we’re focusing on some of the ways we realized a couple oft-requested features. Let’s take a closer look at the Action Menu.

Click the plus (+) sign on any album, track, or playlist to open the Action Menu. Unlimited Subscribers can use Sync to Mobile to add the item to their Offline Collection. If you’d like to add the album to your Queue, select Play Later.

You may have noticed that Add to Playlist now appears on albums too. That’s right, you can add full-album to playlists using the action menu, or using another brand new feature — drag and drop.

On New Rdio you can click an album and drag it directly into a playlist in the left-hand sidebar.

This brings us to the next menu on the action menu — Share. Select Share from the menu to open up all the share options.

You can also use that nifty drag and drop feature to Share, too! Just drag the item to a friends icon in the right-hand sidebar to open up the Share menu, and send to them via Facebook, Twitter, Email, or direct link.

That wraps up this week’s peek into New Rdio. If you’ve got any questions or feedback, let us know!

In case you didn’t hear, April is Jazz Appreciation Month. That means all month, we’ll be highlighting jazz in all its forms: loose, free-flowing improvisation, the intricacies of harmony, rhythm, and melodic tension, and more conventional jazz balladry.

Are you something of a jazz aficionado? Help us kick off the month by contributing to our collaborative Jazz Appreciation Month playlist. You can also celebrate by making a jazz playlist of your favorite standards and give it a theme — “Acid Jazz,” “Dinner Jazz,” “Bebop,” or otherwise. Do you already have a jazzy playlist to share? Let us know. We could end up tweeting about it or posting it to Facebook.

Listen to the ever-expanding Jazz Appreciation Month playlist now. And let us know if you follow or are a Jazz expert in the comments.

There’s a international flavor to this week’s new releases — Brazilian singer-songwriter Céu and the late Mexican singer Selena have new full-lengths out this week, as does American rapper Obie Trice. A new album from Canadian folk troupe Great Lake Swimmers make this a truly global release day. Listen to the New Music Tuesday playlist and read the playlist notes below for even more from our musical world this week.

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Playlist Notes

Dr. John - Locked DownThe blues singer-songwriter’s new solo album has a distinctly modern flavor — it was produced by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach. Hear Dr. John’s new sound now.

Rascal Flatts - ChangedThe country-pop trio release their eighth studio album today, complete with the appropriately-titled first single “Banjo.”

Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday: Roman ReloadedDramatic pop diva Nicki Minaj follows up her major label debut with an album that more fully demonstrates her quirks. With more rapping, more varied production, and more theatrics from Minaj, this is a party worth attending.

Justin Bieber - “Boyfriend”This summer, the pop sensation will drop his second album, and “Boyfriend” is our first taste. Strumming guitars, whistling synths, and Bieber’s restrained vocals hint at a mature sound for the young singer.

Another month of incredible new music always means more songs, albums and artists that you might've missed. Not to worry — here's a playlist of tunes we think you might like and want you to know about, too.

Listen the the Rdio Recommends: March 2012 playlist now, and make sure you let us know: What did we miss? What did YOU miss this month? Review the playlist or leave a comment to make your mark.

About Rdio Recommends: The first Monday of every month, we’ll review and create a playlist that reflects what we’re enjoying and think you might also like. It is composed entirely of new music from the previous month.

Rdio is a social jukebox with over 30 million songs to discover, play, and share. Play what you want, when you want, or turn on a station for a perfect mix of songs. Listen anywhere — the web, your phone, even offline — and follow friends and artists to see what they’re playing.